Pre-E3 2009: Spectrobes Wii Hands-on

As a site that covers Nintendo games for the more "hardcore" users out there, it's easy to get wrapped up in all the mature titles, or focus only on the stuff we know the Big N loyalists will enjoy. Hey, it's the stuff we play too, right? Why wouldn't we want to cover it all the time? With Wii though, we're seeing a huge expansion of gamers, and while most of the titles out there geared towards younger crowds make sure that "casual" is synonymous with "crap," it just makes things all the sweeter when we get to talk about a title that actually does mainstream gaming right, and that's exactly what Spectrobes is on Wii.

We had the opportunity to go hands-on with Spectrobes: Origins at a recent Disney pre-E3 event, and while we've had a chance to see the game in eyes-on capacity this was the first chance to actually get our mitts on it and see for ourselves how it all works. For those that don't know, Spectrobes is a Disney-owned license that is entirely original. It doesn't have a TV or movie license to it, and it isn't selling toys by the billions… yet. Nope, this is just a teenage-geared franchise that is proud to be called a Pokemon-like offering. Disney has mentioned to us time and time again that the company is happy to have Spectrobes being mentioned in the same breath as Nintendo's own property, but in reality, Spectrobes Wii is trumping any Pokemon effort Nintendo has done on a console.

Spectrobes takes inspiration from a few different games and anime out there, but the end result basically boils down to "young boy/girl flies around space, finds fossils of critters, brings them back to life, and battles them." It's a little Dino King, it's a little Pokemon, and it's a little Digimon. Really though, Spectrobes keeps things fresh by being a very compelling action RPG game. Players run around areas with various weapons in hand (sword during our demo), hacking and slashing is done with the A button, and one Spectrobe ally is active on-screen at all times. You can switch out your monster partner with the press of a button, use a quick flick of Wii-mote motion to send it in for a devastating attack, combo between both your controlled character and his/her Spectrobe, and even use Wii-mote IR for lock-on targeting. Basically if you expect Wii-mote functionality to be there, it is, and it's done well. We don't get to say that often, and we'll admit… it's pretty refreshing to now.

So you've got the basic idea, right? You run around doing active battling, experience points are sent out to both you and your current Spectrobe, there's this "gotta catch em all" attitude with the new specimens you find in each area, and just like the countless games before it each critter has an allegiance to a different element. The nice thing about this one though is that everything just feels right. Combos are easy to pull off, motion always works, even when trying out the two-handed pose-based super attack that has players crossing their arms in an X and then shoving out. It's all just very reliable, and well crafted. It's obvious the developer wanted to make a deep, engaging game with this one, and it's equally obvious that Disney gave them the time and resources to do it.